


Burning Ash

by NutMegThings



Category: Elsewhere University (Webcomic)
Genre: Fae & Fairies, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-23 09:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 10,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12504040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NutMegThings/pseuds/NutMegThings
Summary: Follow my OC in Elsewhere University as she finds her place on campus and in Elsewhere.





	1. Ash

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Elsewhere University](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/332300) by charminglyantiquated. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story

The campus has always had places of in-between; between our world and theirs, between magic and mundane, Fae and human, and there are those of the Fae that treasure these places of in-between greatly. Their little… projects.

I9 was one such project, all the students were sure. The building had been on campus for as long as anyone could remember, it refused to show up on any map, and had withstood every try at getting it removed. It didn’t really ‘fit’ with the rest of the campus, although somehow, sometimes, it seemed to fit far too well. Sitting just beyond the dense tree line of the forest, I9 was a small, old, cottage with thatched roof, and a happily running stream the only thing between it and the trees.

No one had lived there since… well, no one could quite agree on the last person who had lived there, some remembered it being a girl from an arts major. Others argued it had been a boy from chemistry. Some others put in that maybe it hadn’t been a student at all. Whoever they were, they hadn’t lasted long, hardly a month before being taken.

The Fae were all unusual, unpredictable, unsettling, but the one that took an interest in this place had something most others did not, patience and persistence.

The girl had applied late, to only do one unit a term, and to live on campus. Her high school marks were nothing special, hardly enough to graduate let alone to be considered for somewhere as prestigious as elsewhere university. The admin staff placed her immediately in the rejected pile, but every morning they would find the application back on their desk. After a week, one member of staff decided to just shred the damn thing, but sure enough, the next day there it was again. After that, they all agreed that the choice had been made for them. When the paperwork came through though, and I9 came out no matter what room anyone typed or even wrote on the forms, that’s when they started to worry. Someone had been chosen again.

Maybe some members of staff (those who knew the history of I9) tried to warn the girl, tried to change fate, but in the end the acceptance letter still went out, and the room number was still unchanged.

Ash was all anxiety, and depression, and layer upon layer of shaky coping mechanisms that she’d built up over the years. She didn’t know anyone at elsewhere, and didn’t have any friends from anywhere else either. Her parents had moved away to start new lives, and after two painful years of self-doubt and second-guessing, she had finally decided to try for Uni. It wasn’t that she wasn’t intelligent, just that she was… different. She never kept friends, always talked to herself or to animals rather than other people, she never seemed to fit in with anyone, and often got on teachers nerves for being too reserved, and so her schooling had suffered. She knew she could do well she just needed time.

Things were strange when Ash got to campus. She wasn’t in one of the communal dorms like she had expected, instead she found her room number carved on the door of an old cottage by the forest edge. She watched the other students for a while, all of them avoiding the path down to the little cottage, all of them taking care not to walk on the little flowers that grew out the front. It took her a good twenty minutes to convince herself to go knock on the door, after all it wouldn’t be the first time someone had tried to mess with the new kid.

She could hear other students whispering as they passed, their eyes boring into her back as she walked to the door. It made her skin crawl and her hairs stand on end, like something was about to attack. She fumbled for her keys and found they were no longer the generic store cut keys she had collected, but one heavy, black, old iron key, it fit the lock though and she took respite within the tiny cottage.

Inside it was small, dark, and smelled of old books and dust. Beyond the entrance was a small sitting room, its walls lined with bookshelves stuffed to the brim with books. A little kitchen with old-fashioned fittings was to the left, a brightly lit study nook to the right, its windows large and filled with overgrown potted herbs and plants. Just past the sitting room was a cosy bedroom with a little bathroom hidden behind one of the wardrobe doors, Ash wondered what else was hidden in here.

The trees outside rustled and birds began to caw as she set down her things and took in her new home. It was strange, and eerie, and her cheeks still burned with the student’s whispers, but it felt oddly safe within these walls, as if she truly had come home.

Students in class were nicer than she had experienced in high school, though some of them refused to meet her eyes. Others insisted on giving her handfuls of little diner salt packets, which was odd at first. It took some time for her to believe this wasn’t some kind of cruel joke at her expense, but after a while, she recognised it as something good. One guy even came up to her and shoved a little hand full of nuts and bolts strung together on a thin chain into her hand and muttered a brief “hang in there” before strolling off.

Well she had heard rumours about people at elsewhere being superstitious, she just hadn’t quite expected it to be this full on. Some students even had their own small rituals they performed before entering certain classes. Even with all the odd around her though, she still felt that she wasn’t exactly part of it all, she was still an outsider, as she had always been, never quite fitting in anywhere.

The first week passed uneventfully. Though the students in class weren’t cruel, they didn’t sit with her if at all possible, politely making their excuses before moving away if she sat at their table. By the end of the week she felt as alone as she had ever been, something she had grown quite used to.

The weekend came quickly and soon enough second week began. Ash sat at the back of the lecture theatre expecting to again be surrounded by empty seats, but this time a boy sat beside her. He had the most amazing eyes all glitter and angles. He didn’t say a word to her but watched like a hawk when she scratched out a few lines of a small poem before the lecture began. He was… odd, but the company was comfortable.

After that lecture the whispering became worse. She would catch snippets of “did you see their eyes?”, “definitely one of them”, “she didn’t even notice” as she walked passed. Her cheeks burning with embarrassment, she quickly headed back towards I9. Just outside I9 though she was stopped by the yowling of an animal in terrible pain. In the bushes was a small white cat tangled in some wires, everyone else was hurrying passed without even a glance its way. The thing was making such an awful noise she had half expected the bite of razor wire as she freed the creature, but it was just plain old wire. She could have sworn though, as the cat scampered off across the stream and into the forest, that as it turned away it suddenly had too many eyes, all glitter and angles, but she couldn’t be sure.

After that, things were… stranger. The shadows around the cottage felt deeper than was possible, wind chimes that had been taken down long before Ash had gotten there chimed happily in the dead still air, and there was a lingering smell of honey and wet fur.

She knew something was wrong when she woke the next morning. The feeling stole over her in cold waves of panic, something was different, something was wrong, something had happened. When she looked in the mirror she saw that the eyes staring back at her were wrong, they seemed to stare much much farther than a reflection should be able, and glinted with the colours of the aurora borealis. She heard the purring of a cat as tears welled in her beautiful, wrong, eyes.

It was late afternoon when she finally left I9 again, and slowly she realised her eyes weren’t the only things that had changed. She could see… things… playing in the trees just passed the stream. Things covered in fur and claws, and feathers, and bone. There was a lady at the other end of the path watching her closely, a small cat curled around her legs. Her eyes drifted past Ash, and Ash turned to see what had caught her gaze. It was a basket filled with… things. There was a bunch of rotten bananas, some plants that looked rather a lot like weeds still with their roots attached covered in dirt, a couple of lengths of string, a frayed bit of cloth, and a handful of stones and little bones. In a voice like dripping blood, and splintering bones The Lady spoke to Ash “a small gift for my girl between. A basket of favours yet made, promises yet to come, use my gift well little one, I’ll know if you waste it”. When Ash blinked The Lady was gone, and she was left alone with the basket of things, and a cat that definitely had too many eyes.


	2. The Lady

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story/character

The Lady had always loved the between. She had always found the people and places of between so fascinating, not quite Fae, not quite human. She liked to think of herself as ‘not quite’ sometimes too. She liked the idea of not being quite like the other Fae, though none of them are really too much alike, they all followed the rules and customs of elsewhere. There were precious few of the Fae who, like her, dared to set themselves apart. Changelings mostly, befriending the humans, Jimothy too, always a pleasure to see around, and of course precious Ms Anna, she was one of the ladies favourites.

She’d watched the others interacting with students, most of them just human to begin with, and had watched as they became what the others called ‘Fae touched’. She loved the handful of students of the between, both the natural born and the Fae touched, perhaps the former a little more, but they all held a special place in her care. She wanted her own. Like many of the changelings had their humans, and the crows had the girl feathers, she wanted her own.

Hers had to be special though, had to have the touch at least a little already, had to appreciate what she had to give them. She had already gone through a few who had been promising at first, but they all failed her some way or other.

The cottage had been difficult, it had taken a lot of work before she was satisfied it was worthy of her between. She’d found a smith running from the hunt, and had offered him a safe return to his dorm in exchange for his services. So the bones of the cottage were iron, hard and cold, and protective for her precious between. The daughter of a builder had found herself captivated by the dancers, and in exchange for her freedom the walls of the cottage were constructed. The girl had been good, choosing stone with salt and twists of metal in, placing a hearth in the middle of the small cottage. So the heart of the cottage held flames. A student lost in the library, agreed to help if they were safely escorted out. They had dug the path up to the cottage, and a circle all around it, burying salt and ash beneath cobblestones. She had hunted down books to fill the personal library, traded favours for students to work on the cottage. Found herbs and plants, now rare in these parts, to plant around the windows and grounds to keep away various members of the Fae. Even she couldn’t enter the property any more, it was safe, it had to be.

The iron key had been a special touch, she’d laden a smith with gifts for a week in return for it. She always wondered how far a human, even a between human, could be pushed before their protections turned to curses. How much a body could take before the salt in their skin and the iron in their blood began to burn them. Before they were no longer between, but too far gone. The key was a way to make sure her precious one, when she found them, hadn’t been pushed too far, and a way to take some safety with them out of the cottage.

Everything she could do to keep her between safe, she had done. It wasn’t always enough. The last one had gone about destroying her protections as soon as they’d arrived, pulling out her precious herbs first. They’d lasted only a week before a lord of the gentry saw it funny to steal them away. Perhaps it was their own fault for shunning all the protections and insulting the lord, but it was still a loss.

This time she’d made sure the right one would be chosen. This time would be different. This time she even had some help.


	3. Gifts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story

What are you supposed to do when a lady gives you gifts so obviously important to her. Ash knew the answer already of course, but she heard it echoed by the cat beside her. You use them, of course.

Ash stared at the basket for a long while, the sun was going down, night was creeping in, and she tried to ignore the sounds that were floating to her from across the stream. This wasn’t real, it’s all just a dream. She hadn’t had one of the haunting nightmares from her past since moving to elsewhere, but this has to be a nightmare. A new one. It has to be.

She closed her eyes tight, breathed the cooling air in deep and took a few steps down the path, back toward the cottage. Only a few though, before quickly scampering back, picking up the basket and flinging herself back down the path and through the front door.

The door clicked shut behind her, heavy and secure. Safe. Her gasp as she looked to the walls of the sitting room was accompanied by the satisfied purr of the small white cat, already sitting on the small table. On the walls, in the bookshelves, every book glowed and shimmered a warm welcoming light, not too unlike her new, wrong, eyes. Dancing light filled the small room, Ash took a moment to bask in it. Even if this was a dream, at least she could appreciate the nice bits, just for a while.

Ash spent the rest of the night hunkered down in one of the comfy chairs of the sitting room, staring blankly into the shifting light. It danced and flickered and mesmerized like fire. She had no idea how long she stayed there just staring, but eventually she fell asleep in the soft chair, with a cat that definitely had too many eyes curled in her lap.

She dreamt of iron bones, and skin of salt and stone, and a heart of fire, and eyes of shifting light. She dreamt of people lost in the woods returned safe back home, of students in despair being helped, of cats caught in burning wires freed. She dreamt of gifts yet given, of stories yet told, of favours yet to come, promises yet made, of people, and creatures, and the cottage. She dreamt she had iron bones, and skin of salt and stone, and a heart full of burning fire, and eyes of dancing light. She dreamt she had a purpose, she dreamt that she could help, she dreamt that she was needed.

When Ash woke and sat herself in front of the large mirror in the bathroom, she wasn’t entirely surprised to see her eyes were still wrong. She stared back at her reflection for what felt like days, understanding bit by bit, that things were different. She felt it deep in her heart “heart of flame, bones of iron, skin of salt and stone” she muttered to herself “and eyes of dancing light”. She wondered if the other students knew that things were different, wondered if they could tell her about The Lady. Ash remembered the snippets of conversation she had heard before in class “see their eyes” “one of them” how they had looked at the boy. She wondered if they would look at her the same way. It wouldn’t really matter anyway, she suspected they already did.

When she walked into the sitting room she saw the books first, still all glowing faintly, lighting the room like the last rays of a sunset. She opened the big arched windows of the study next, letting the potted plants soak in the sun light, and then she turned to the basket.

What do you do with presents from a lady. “you use them” Ash breathed. She had a class later that day, but she probably had time to do some work before then.

Bananas gone soft, weeds with roots, sheets of fabric, string and stone and bone.

“well” she said, mostly to herself but at least a little to the cat “at least the bananas could be used well to make cakes”. The cat purred contentedly and followed her to the kitchen. “I’ve decided I’m calling you kat by the way, with a k” she stated before setting to work.

The cupcakes turned out well, they were the best she had ever made, and had turned out twice as many as she’d thought the ingredients would allow. The weeds were planted in the window pots, alongside the overgrown plants. The string, and stones, and bones had come together to make some charming bracelets. But the fabric remained unused, at least for the moment.

Ash stared at her reflection again, watching the shifting lights dance in her eyes. She’d decided to bring the cupcakes with her to class, maybe a peace gift to lessen whatever torment her eyes might bring. She had them piled in the basket and covered with a sheet of the fabric.

Ash decided, just as she was leaving, to put on one of the bracelets. It felt cool and… safe against her skin.

As she walked along her path the sound of tumbling stones in a river bed accompanied her, the smell of the fresh cakes wafted around her, and a small white cat with definitely too many eyes trailed not far behind.


	4. Just Checking

The tutorial was awful. Nobody would so much as glance in Ash’s direction, none of them acknowledged her at all. Ash sat at the back of the computer lab, the small basket of cakes sitting next to her, a little beacon of shame. There were no whispers, no glances her way, no token greetings, not even the bare minimum she had become accustomed to, even the lecturer avoided her. She thought maybe the lecturer would object to her bringing food in the lab, but he had merely let his gaze slide over her and the basket as he greeted the room.

The two hours of data entry dragged on and on. They were supposed to be working in groups to analyse a subjects nutrient intake, but Ash sat entirely alone, completely ignored. It almost would have been better if they had laughed, if they had pointed at her eyes, gasped, or gossiped, something… anything, then at least she might have been allowed some answers. Instead she sat alone, in her small space of silence and embarrassment, cheeks burning fiercely.

It wasn’t until class ended Ash realised she’d been crying. She saved her work, dabbing at her eyes with her sleeves, gathered up her bag and basket, and left without looking up, not that anyone was looking anyway, she thought bitterly.

Kat was nowhere to be seen, he’d walked with her all the way to the lab, and had been accompanying her everywhere since the other day. She’d expected him to be lounging round near the bushes, mewling at the crows. “fine” she huffed “not like I could have used the company now anyway”, and started off down the path toward I9.

Half way home, she noticed footsteps trailing a little behind her, she clenched her teeth and bawled her hands to fists. Her skin crawled as the familiar panic and disgust flooded her body. If someone was going to bully her, they could damn well confront her face to face. She was not going to stand for someone sneaking up on her, better to know if they were going to hurt her, better to face them than let them stab her in the back. Ash took a shaky breath and whirled around suddenly, the boy now in front of her stopped dead in his tracks, obviously a little shocked, Ash didn’t care. “what do you want” she hissed “as if everyone in class wasn’t horrible enough. What the hell do you want”.

The boy looked uneasy, visually weighing up his options. Ash seethed with the frustration and humiliation that had been building, she wanted answers, wanted to understand, wanted a friend to talk to, wanted to not be the outcast for once, wanted to let out her anger, she wanted to fight. “what, now we’re face to face you’ve got nothing? Do you just sneak up on people and play pranks on them then? Been there done that! If you wanted to humiliate me you’re too fucking late, I already did that myself! These stupid eyes, everyone’s superstitions about I9. I didn’t choose it you know! I was already the freak before I even set foot on this stupid fucking campus, so what do you want? You think you can make it worse? Do your fucking best!” Tears were rolling freely down her cheeks now, she was shaking all over, the anger and frustration flooding her in waves, adding venom to her words. She knew once the anger faded the panic would set in. She knew it was stupid to confront him, knew if he was there to mess with her it would only make things worse, and knew if he wasn’t she’d just solidified her place as the campus crazy.

Doubt crept in as the boy stared, mouth open. Fuck, maybe he was just walking the same way as her, maybe he had nothing to do with her at all, great, this is just great, freaking fantastic. She barely felt the basket slip from her trembling fingers and flinched back as the boy stepped forward, snatching the basket up before it hit the ground. “I um, I just wanted to ah, to see how you were getting along?” The boy offered holding the basket out. He waited as Ash hesitated. “peace?” He asked.

Ash took the basket back, gripping it like a life line as her anxiety screamed in her head. “sorry” she muttered, wiping her eyes again. “I just… I… sorry” she stammered out.

“fine” said the boy “that’s fine, I mean, I’d try not to make a habit of screaming at strangers round here but, yeah, cool, to each their own. I was just um…. Checking.”

“checking?” Ash asked, taking a deep breath and trying not to have a complete breakdown.


	5. Ms Anna

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> character

Annabella Bobbins used to be a student at Elsewhere University. Or at least  _an_ Elsewhere University. She had been on campus since the university opened, an arts major studying costume and garment design. No one’s too sure now if the university actually ever offered such a course, but Annabella studied it anyway.

She swiftly became a master at her craft. Her design sketches littered her sketch book in page after page of wonder and creativity. Her skills with a needle were constantly being worked on, always sewing, or knitting or crafting some magnificent garment.

Soon Annabella began making her own needles “they just felt better” she would say, more real in her hands. During her last semester Annabella could be seen wandering around campus, finding inspiration in everything she saw, working what she saw into her craft. In the last week’s they say she stopped using metal needles completely, only ever using needles shed made herself.

They say she is the greatest crafter you could ever meet, that she could spin you dreams, sew together broken souls with threads of spider webs, that she could weave you a future from the stars.

No one’s too sure when Annabella Bobbins became Ms Anna. No one’s too certain at what point she stopped being fully human and became Fae touched, no one knows when she went just another step too far. But now you can see her on campus still, wandering through trees and fog, searching for her latest inspiration.

The Lady loves Ms Anna, she always wonders what Annabella could do if she found the right muse.


	6. Big T

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story

“just checking that you were still you is all” the boy had said, “just checking”.

Ash hadn’t understood, she was too overcome with embarrassment and frustration and anxiety but the boy didn’t seem to notice. “it’s common for the freshies to go missing round here, usually they come back different, if they come back at all” he’d explained, Ash just walked alongside the boy in silence, she didn’t feel she could talk at all now. “some people take bets and everything” he went on “bets on who will go, and how, and if they’ll come back. I’m quite the man in the betting scene at the moment, have a little something counting on you getting through this whole semester”.

At that Ash found her voice again, stomach dropping, and heart sinking. “you bet on me?” She stammered quietly through tears “that’s what you were checking, to see if you’d lost”. The boy looked uncomfortable but not too ashamed. “EU is one of the most hard core places to bet at” he said, as if that explained everything. “anyway” he said, “your eyes, in class, they told me to pay up, but I guess the fact that I’m still standing means you’re still you huh?”

Ash was about to ask him what that was even supposed to mean, how could she not be Ash? How could someone not be who they are, but she stopped, mouth open as she realised the boy had fallen behind. As Ash turned the hairs on the back of her neck, and up her arms all stood on end, her heart picked its pace back up, and she took in a sharp breath.

The boy was stood a few paces back, staring at an outstretched hand, offered by something in a massive black trench coat and bowler hat. As her eyes focused, Ash could see the hand was shimmering with a dangerous red glow. Her own wrist had begun to glow too, curling waves of blue lapping around her bracelet, it seemed to be pulling at her, pulling away from the thing in the trench coat.

Everything had gone wrong now, the path they had just been following was no longer under foot, and there were no street lamps in sight. It had gotten dark as midnight even though it was hardly 4:30 in the afternoon. The man, for lack of a better word, was still holding his hand out toward the boy, who seemed to be struggling not to take it.

Ash breathed and let her hand slip from its death grip on the basket. “fuck” she thought “what the fuck am I even doing”. She took a cupcake from the basket and placed it neatly in the man’s outstretched hand, grasping the boys rising hand as she withdrew. “shit shit shit” she turned, not waiting to see the man’s reaction and walked into the darkness, letting the pulling at her wrist guide her.

As Ash walked, slowly she could feel cobble stones beneath her feet again, the darkness faded to a fitful afternoon glow, and she found herself approaching the door of I9. She couldn’t tell if it was just her that was shaking or if the boy was too… it was probably just her, she thought, swallowing hard as shame tightened her throat.

Only once they were on her doorstep did she let go of the boy’s hand. She fumbled in her pocket for the large key and opened the door. Finally the boy spoke again. “that was Big T” he said, as if Ash should know the name “and… and I’m still me…. Big T, holy shit”

Ash looked at the boy properly for the first time, and noticed that yes, he was in fact shaking now. “you should come in then” she said “and here” she took the bracelet from around her wrist and tied it to his “I… okay this sounds stupid, but I think it showed me the way home. If he’s still out there, maybe it will work for you too”

The boy looked at it uncomfortably “what do you want in return?” He asked, obviously reluctant to either take it, or take it off. “nothing” Ash replied, her patience wearing thin again “you gave me a bracelet when we first met, now I’m returning the favour, just fucking take it would you”. That seemed to satisfy the boy. “where’d you get this then?” He asked eyeing the bones cautiously. “I made it” Ash sighed letting the safety of the cottage comfort her and seep just a bit of her anxiety away “I made it out of gifts a friend gave me”.


	7. The Traveler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character

They roam the campus grounds, always wandering from place to place, never resting, never finding their destination. They greet the other Fae along their way, often compelling them for some company. Those who cannot resist grasping the offered hand find themselves wandering aimless with The Traveler till he lets go, to offer his hand to some other hapless companion.

The students on campus had nicknamed the being Big T. Some had met Big T, not many of those that had were able to recount what happened, but those that could always talked of the endless walking. You walk, and walk, and walk, most often in silence, trying desperately to feel the ground beneath your feet, to hear your own voice in your head. You can’t trust your own senses, they say, not once you’ve held their hand. Your eyes see darkness, a tunnel vision to the always distant destination, your feet feel soft soil beneath them no matter what you may be walking through, your hands feel only the bony grasp of The Traveler, though many found they had acquired scars from scratching vines and biting creatures never felt.

Don’t hold their hand. Don’t look in their eyes. If you take their hand, whatever you do, don’t let go, and don’t stop walking, there’s no telling where you’ll end up if you do. Better to just keep going, keep going till they bring you back, till they switch you out.

There’s only one student that came back after letting go of The Traveler's hand. They had found themselves uncomfortably deep in the Elsewhere, surrounded by unfriendly things. They say the instant they let The Traveler's hand go, they regretted it, were overcome by such a deep sorrow and loneliness that they wanted nothing more than to take their hand again, to keep on walking and never look back. They offered everything they could for The Traveler to take their hand again, but their offers fell on deaf ears and a swiftly retreating back.

Never take The Traveler's hand, but if you do, don’t ever let go.


	8. A Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story

“a friend?” The boy was inspecting the bracelet sceptically “uh…. What kind of friend?”

Ash was well past dealing with stupid half questions and rounded on the boy “what is that even supposed to mean? A friend, someone who hasn’t completely ignored my existence, or isolated me entirely” she hesitated a jab of frustration spurring her on “someone who hasn’t taken out any bets on my life, you know? A friend?”

The boy wasn’t paying much attention, still inspecting the bracelet round his wrist “riiight”

Ash gave up, and rolling her eyes asked if he’d like a cup of tea or something, she could definitely do with one herself. She was still shaking from everything that had happened today.

“yeah sure” the boy replied distractedly “hey, this wasn’t the same ‘friend’ that gave you erm” he trailed off tapping a finger to his cheek just below his eye. Ash stared at him for a second, mouth open “no” she said cautiously. At least she didn’t think The Lady had given her her new wrong eyes “no… I met her after the eyes went wrong” she said hesitantly. Now the boy was staring at her intently, for once he seemed to be practicing his patience, letting her work through things. “can… can they do that?” Ash asked “change your eyes I mean?”

“oh yeah” replied the boy, huffing out his breath in a small laugh “ohhhh yeah they can change your eyes alright, and just about everything else as well, when did the eyes change then?” He asked curiosity peeking in his voice.

“a few days ago now I guess” replied Ash as she moved to the kitchen to make tea, and think without the boy staring at her.

A few days ago, gods had it really been such a short time? Everything was messed up now, everything creepily different in just a few days. She thought back; well there had been the encounter with the man in the trench coat, that was today. The weeds that took root too fast in the herb boxes, the bracelet that sounded like a riverbed and apparently lead you home, and the cupcakes that had made far too many to be reasonable, also today. The meeting with The Lady, and the acquiring of small odd gifts, that was last night. The dream of iron bones, and skin of salt and stone, and a heart of fire, and eyes of shifting light, that was the night before. The wrong eyes, that was the morning before then… and before that… before that she had helped a cat… a cat with far too many eyes, all glitter and angles.

“kat!!” Ash exclaimed, jolting herself back into the real world, and sloshing boiled water over her hand. “aahhhhh, damn it” she sucked in air and clenched her jaw as she set the kettle back down and ran her hand under cold water.

“whoah, what happened?” The boy asked alarmed and walking over to the kitchen. “kat!” Exclaimed Ash again “it was kat, that sneaky little weasel, I helped him out of a tangle of wires the other day, I thought he was being burnt but it was just normal wire, not even razor wire or anything, and when he ran away I swore I saw he’d had too many eyes, but they were just like these” Ash pointed to her own eyes emphatically, knowing she probably sounded like a psycho, but she didn’t much care at this point “and now my eyes are wrong, and I know kat has too many eyes, because he does! It was kat, it was the bloody cat!!”

“okay, okay calm down, you’re gonna hurt yourself again” said the boy “well you are” he said defensively as Ash shot him an impatient glare. “where is he now then?”

“oh I don’t know” Ash snapped at him “he’s a cat, he’s probably out disembowelling some small animal or something” she said, giving up on her hand that had by now gone a bright red, it would just have to blister for all she cared.

“well if he’s one of them, then you’re probably not wrong about that” said the boy. Ash rolled her eyes, finishing the cups of tea and grabbing a couple cupcakes, she really wished they wouldn’t all go to waste “what on earth is that supposed to mean?” She said glaring at the boy again. “them” he repeated “you know, them” he said, emphasizing the word as if that made it all clear. “no” said Ash, letting her frustration edge her words “I don’t know them, I don’t know anyone here, I don’t know you, the only person I know at all is kat, and he’s a cat, so why don’t you explain to me who the hell they are” she took a sip of her tea, letting the warmth and aroma calm her frazzled nerves, gods she needed it.

“my name’s Ace, now you know two people, kat included, nice to meet you” said Ace, Ash couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic, she felt like he probably was, but was grateful anyway and began to reply “my name’s ca..”

“ah ba ba ba ba!” Ace shot out his free hand interrupting her “no real names! You don’t want them to get a hold of it, you really don’t know do you”

“no” said Ash “I don’t fucking know, so why don’t you just tell me” she took a deep breath trying to calm back down, gods this boy was infuriating “sorry” she said “for snapping at you again, but honestly I am so sick of you implying I should know what obviously everyone else in this damn campus knows, but I am once again completely oblivious to what you think is so freaking obvious, so. Just. Tell. Me”

“all right, all right” said the boy raising his hands defensively “alright, I’ll tell you what I can. Look do you have a nickname or something? It’s safer” he took in Ash’s glare “and I promise I’ll explain why, just think of a name, please?” He said.

Ash took another sip of her tea, again letting the warmth comfort her, she breathed in deeply “they used to call me Ash, a long time ago, will that do?” She asked, trying not to let her memories come back, now definitely wasn’t the time for that.

“yeah, Ash, great, perfect, sure, why not?” Ace replied, beaming and taking a large bite out of the cupcake, spilling crumbs all over his face. Ash laughed at him and took a bite of her own, she’d forgotten she hadn’t eaten since before midday, the cupcake was a welcome relief to the hunger that must have been building all day.

Finally relaxing, Ash settled in to her chair, listening intently as the myths of elsewhere university filled the small sitting room, the shifting light of the books behind her, the sounds of the stream just outside filtering in through the window, in the company of a new friend, as well as what she suspected in the corner of the room to be a small white cat with far too many eyes. Maybe this all wasn’t too awful, she thought to herself.


	9. Kat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character

No one’s ever too sure about the cat with too many eyes. No one’s too sure if he’s a member of the fey, or perhaps a changeling of sorts, or maybe even something entirely different again. Even the gentry aren’t certain. The Lady of course took a liking to him swiftly, his otherness playing into her heart, as the between often do.

Gifts are a difficult thing in elsewhere. More often than not a gift asked for is a curse in disguise, and a gift given freely is a volatile thing indeed. The Lady had become rather good at gifts, little things that could be easily missed by the rest of the gentry. The cat however had no such skill. Instead he gave what he wanted to whomever he wanted and assumed that like him, the receiver would just be able to cope.

The gift of sight is an awful one to bestow upon a curious victim, but the gift of twisted sight can occasionally prove an interesting blessing. Cat didn’t see the world as the gentry did, nor did he see it as the humans or witches did. Cat saw the feeling of things, a kaleidoscope of magic and emotion and far more spectrums of sight than it is possible to describe. This not quite sight was his most precious of gifts to give. It cost him an eye, though true it was one he would not miss, and for a place in the heart of a between such as this, one he was glad to give.

The between was blind to much of their self, and indeed to the ways of the elsewhere, but when cat looked at them… what he saw… what he saw was… something new.


	10. Settling In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story

It had been a week since Ash and Ace had met, a week of changes mostly. Ace had told Ash many of the stories of elsewhere, including some of what she hoped were the worst of them. That had opened her eyes, even more than kat’s gift had really. If nothing else, she now knew some of what she was seeing and how to deal with it.

The creatures covered in fur, and claws, and feathers, and bone that played across the river she’d found were called Gnarlers. They were happy enough to be left alone playing by the river and didn’t seem too interested in her or the other students. Ash did notice though, that the few times a member of the elsewhere came to them they would swarm, hackles raising and emitting a dark unhappy brown and red and blue meld of colour that apparently only her eyes could see. They would settle back down again once the member of the elsewhere had gone, or if they were offered what seemed to Ash to be gifts of interesting stones that glowed with the faintest of sky blue. The wind chimes she could hear at night were slowly coming back, weaving themselves into the eaves of her cottage like webs filled with tiny tinkling gems that would make the most lovely chime when blown on. One of the books from the cottage shelves said they grow in the presence of hope, and that once fully formed would yield a harvest of precious gems that could be used for…something. The text had been unclear and didn’t seem to want to be read. Ash had set the text aside for some more serious reading later. Kat had become a regular companion again, usually preferring to be curled up somewhere comfortable in the same room as her, or trailing just within sight if she was walking outside.

Class had been a bit of a surprise the first time she’d gone back again, but of course she realised she should have recognised those eyes in the boy that had sat with her, of course it had been kat. He sat with her through every class now. Ash often wondered how he managed it really, she never saw him changing just one moment he was kat the cat, the next he was… passing for human. Class itself had changed some too. Apparently, Ace had been busy gossiping to his gambling mates about her. Of course he had, it was Ace after all, but whatever he was saying about her mustn’t be so bad as some of the other students would sit with her now. The students that did brave sitting at her table made it a point to avoid kat’s gaze but would always make an effort to include Ash when they could.

The cakes had been a pleasant surprise too. Ash had waited day after day for them to finally go stale but every morning she would try one and, to her mounting delight, it would be just as fresh as the morning she made them. Ash decided though on the third day to leave them out by her front door, even if they did keep forever she had baked far too many for just herself. On the fourth day she added a sign to the basket of cakes reading “freely given”. On the fifth day she added another sign reading “or for exchange, please leave items here” and put a small box next to the basket. Finally then the cakes had started to go. She’d collected some interesting things from the exchange box, some salt packets and little nick nacks and trinkets which she’d been expecting, but there were also a few items she had not been counting on. Teeth, for instance… lots, and lots, of teeth. There were also a few pressed and dried flowers that smelled like cotton candy, a feather that was tipped with tiny silver spikes at the end of each barb, and a whole speckled eggshell that glowed with the same light blue as the stones the Gnarlers liked.

Yesterday Ace had visited her again and a friend of his had come by before he’d gone. To Ash’s surprise, she had come asking for help. Ace had told her about their encounter with Big T and how the bracelet had seemed to lead them to safety. She wanted Ash to make her one. It turned out a member of the gentry had abducted her girlfriend a few days earlier and she had tried all she could to bargain her life back. After her attempts at making deals had failed, she planned to go in guns blazing to retrieve her beloved and wanted as many tricks up her sleeve she could manage to try and get them both back safe.

Ash had taken time on this bracelet, weaving the feather and some of the teeth into the design amongst the bones and river stones until it had felt just right and glowed in her hand. She hoped it would work. The girl had insisted on giving her something in return and had taken out one of the studs that decorated her ears. It had a small stone clutched in tiny iron claws, her great grandma had made just a hand full of them, and they’d been handed down through the generations. It had felt wrong to take the thing from her, but Ash was coming to know that at Elsewhere University all gifts were debts unpaid, and debts unpaid were a dangerous thing indeed.


	11. Debts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story

Debts. That was something Ash had to remember of course. This had all started with the gift of half sight from Kat, and the basket from The Lady. Both debts yet paid.

Ash could believe that Kat was content to take her company and attention as payment… but The Lady, well she’d said so hadn’t she -a basket of favours yet made, of promises yet to come- and all of them a debt to be paid. She said she’d know if they were wasted. Ash wondered if The Lady had realised when she’d given Ash the basket that it would start this cycle of debt. Ash made goods; cakes that stayed fresh, trinkets that keep you safe, and a few other bits and pieces that seemed to belong to someone else even as she made them. And for every one she gave away, she was given something in return, something that in one way or another would make it back into another gift yet given.

The girl came back a few days later. She’d called herself ember and now with her beloved grasped tight the name fit well. The journey through the Elsewhere had taken it’s tole on the both of them, the beloved would stare into the shadows as if they were as deep as the night sky, perhaps seeing a different side of the same sight Ash had herself. And ember, well, her skin flashed with the glare of a dying flame, her hair was gone, leaving her scalp bare, topped only with the shimmering mirage of summer’s heat, and her eyes were blazing fire. She had been Fae touched she said. As she took her beloved and fled, the Fae had cursed her to wear the heat of her burning rage. She would never again be able to live in the normal world. But, she said, if it were not for the bracelet they would both have surely been lost to the Elsewhere.

And so, in just a few weeks Ash had become the person to go to for hope when none was left. Ace said they were already spreading stories of the girl in the Elsewhere cottage who can turn your gifts into treasures.

She wondered if this was what The Lady wanted.


	12. Gnarlers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> character

If you find yourself by the river’s edge on the threshold of old Elsewhere, listen for the laughter. Listen for the laughter that would be sweet if it weren’t made up by the sounds of splintering bones, the scratching of claws, and the grinding of teeth. Listen for the laughter of the Gnarlers, and if you hear it, be weary if it ends.

Smell the scent of wet fur, taste the tin in the air, hear their laughter, but beware not to let yourself feel the pull of the wilds.

Gnarlers are peaceful, and will leave you be if you give them the same courtesy. But trespass and you may find yourself laughing. Laughing with your bones, and teeth, and blood. If you’re lucky, it will only be a chuckle and you’ll leave with hardly a fracture or two, if you’re rude you’ll find yourself broken and bleeding, curled over with laughing bones.

Territorial and dangerous though they may be, if it’s a tracker you need you won’t find any finer. Be sure to come with a gift fitting of their time. The shells of the sapphire horned lizards are prized among them for the music they play when shattered.

Brave the ice and venom, take the shells of music, listen for the laughter of broken bones, and risk what you must to track down what it is you can’t survive without.

Be sure the risk is worth the reward, for dying of laughter isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.


	13. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> story

It was dark, and cold, and there was the glint of shimmering metal passing by. It seemed to speed up as Ash watched, it sounded like tearing silk. The razor wire sliced through the darkness, a thin glint of light against the pitch black. Ash felt her skin crawl and muscles tense as her subconscious whispered to her how it would feel to touch that speeding wire, to have it dance in her skin. “No” she thought, cold waves of dread flowing through her as her stomach clenched in the shock. “No. No, not here”

Ash jerked awake, her hands shaking and back dripping with cold sweat. Her sheets stuck to her as she sat up. She hadn’t had a nightmare since coming to EU, she hadn’t had that one for a very long time. She was thankful she woke when she did. Every time that Ash could remember having that nightmare she would wake herself up as it starts, but still, even if she couldn’t remember dreaming it, she remembered where it would lead.

Kat was sat at her feet, curled in the warmth of the quilt and staring at her inquisitively. “What” Ash asked, she really was not in the mood to be eyeballed by a cat, especially one with so many eyes to do it with. Ash felt herself being stared through and had the creeping certainty that Kat really was staring straight through her and into her dream. “What?” Ash repeated hesitantly, and followed Kats gaze as he shifted to look at the closed window. The blinds were drawn but Ash felt she already knew what she would see if she drew them. She took a steadying breath, concentrating on slowing her heart rate. “Alright” Ash said, “Alright Kat, I’ll see her, but not like this, I feel disgusting. I’ll go to her after a shower” it probably wasn’t the best idea to keep someone like The Lady waiting but Ash was already feeling reluctant to leave the safety of her room. I9 truly had become her home in the past weeks, and she wasn’t happy leaving its comforting walls at the best of times, let alone when her nightmares had decided to come back.

Ash showered, realising too late that she was scrubbing her wrists raw. “Damn it” she huffed. It had been ages since the nightmares, and just as long since she’d felt the itch in her wrists. “Damn it” she repeated “I was doing so well”. Shaking her arms to ease the insistent itch Ash towelled off and threw on her spare P.J’s before rushing outside. As she heard the heavy front door of I9 closing behind her Ash saw up the path to where Kat was waiting for her with The Lady.

“H-hello” Ash stammered, her nerves clear in her voice. She cleared her throat and tried again “Hello my Lady”

“Hello my little Ash” said The Lady in calming tones, her voice dripping with honey and silk. “A restless night I see”.

Ash felt her jaw clench and cheeks burn as the memory of the razor wire flashed behind her eyes. “Just a nightmare” she said. The Lady curled her lips into a humourless smile “little one, you’ll learn quickly that in the elsewhere there’s no such thing as just nightmares”. Ash took a breath thinking of how to respond but before she could The Lady continued “I see you’ve been trading away my gifts” and this time a genuine smile adorned her lips. “Yes” said Ash, a whole new wave of fear rolling through her “I’ve used them to help people”. “Yes” said The Lady “I’ve brought you another basket”. Ash followed her gaze to the basket that now sat at her feet, she knew it hadn’t been there before. “And now” said The Lady, drawing Ash’s attention back from the basket “I’ll give you some advice, learn to read your dreams little one, unravel them before they unravel you. Elsewhere is an unforgiving place, and one I feel may not be better off with your absence. Use my gifts well my little one, I will be watching”

And just like that The Lady was gone, leaving Kat and Ash alone in the dark of the campus. Ash picked up the basket and froze as she heard Kat hiss, his hackles rising and his fangs bared. “Fuck” Ash muttered following his gaze “oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck”.


	14. Ash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> story

Truly it is only a fool who believes dreams are just dreams when living so close to the Elsewhere. And fools can only survive so long in such a place.

Ash stared into the eyes of the creature now stood before her. It was, of course, her. But its hair was like silk drifting in the breeze and its eyes were wrong, or rather, a different kind of wrong. Where there should have been the brilliance of her wrong eyes like dancing light, there was instead darkness. A darkness so unfathomably deep Ash could feel herself being enveloped by it, plunging her deeper into the dream.

Dream it said in a whisper that made Ash’s skin crawl, and caused her to redouble her vice like grip on The Ladie’s gift basket. Her last anchor to the reality she felt was fast slipping away. ‘Spider’, she thought briefly before her attention turned to the sound that had been gently building to a searing hiss.

Ash watched, jaw clenched tight and throat seized with fear, as the razor wire strummed past her head, now frighteningly, undeniably real. Oh God’s she thought. She was alone now, watching in this near empty darkness as the wire passed her by, whispering, screaming, teasing of how it would feel to reach out and let it dance beneath her skin. Ash looked toward the horizon to where she could just make out a growing silhouette; an inevitability that she had hoped in vain would not be here this time. Oh fuck. She watched as it grew closer and closer until finally the great willow tree stood before her, just beyond her reach. From here she could see where beneath the Boeing branches the wire had wrapped itself around and around and around the great trunk, biting deep into the bark. Sap oozed from the wounds that Ash knew would only continue to grow deeper. And beneath them there she saw the next inevitability of this dream that she had avoided for so long. The hollow at the base of the trunk was dark, it seemed almost empty, but Ash knew it would not be. It drew her in, calling to her every cell. Ash allowed herself to be pulled in, letting the cold empty darkness claim her. Please. Next she knew would be pain, the splitting migraine and aching limbs as she falls screaming out of bed, it was the next inevitability. But when Ash opened her eyes she was not back in her room, she was instead within the gloom of the hollow. Shock hit her as Ash took in the size of the space she was now in. The darkness was punctuated by the outlines of hundreds of smaller trees, and as Ash’s eyes adjusted she saw that they were all… Her. Willowing branches laden with leaves forming hair atop wooden, living bodies. Ash stared in horror as they collectively looked to the ground at their feet and watched as their roots began to smoulder. They watched as their bodies were slowly engulfed in the fireless burning, air now filled with falling Ash, until the burn reached their necks. Then all eyes turned to meet Ash’s gaze. “Who are you?” she heard herself whisper, and took a suffocating sharp breath as they collectively answered. “We are you”. Ash swallowed hard, trying to push her heart back down from her throat “What are you?” She asked. Again, they responded as one “we are Ash”. The burn had reached their hair now, and the many thousands of leaves began to fall, blazing in the air. “What do you want?” asked Ash. “To Live” they responded “you must live”.

Firm hands gripped Ash as she gasped and felt her mind rise to consciousness. “That’s quite enough little one, you can’t let yourself be lost. The dream weaver won’t hesitate to make your dreams theirs if you let them.” Beyond The Lady Ash could see a large creature that could, in the wrong light, be mistaken for an enormous spider. Its eyes stared, unfathomably deep, and filled with glittering stars. “Use what you’ve learnt well my little between, you will need it” stated The Lady. “I will” said Ash breathlessly, feeling the tremor in her limbs reflected by her voice. She wasn’t entirely sure what it is she had learnt, but she would not have defied The Lady in this moment for anything. “Good” was all The Lady said. And then as suddenly as it had all happened, Ash was alone again, sitting just beyond the path to I9, accompanied only by a worried looking cat with definitely too many eyes.


	15. Dream Weavers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> character

There are many beings that enjoy the taste of dreams, and some who have grown to savour the sharp burn of a good nightmare. Among these beings are the weavers, creatures of the Elsewhere that spin webs of slumber in which to trap unsuspecting prey. Feeding on their victims hopes and fears, drinking in their dreams. A Miss Annabelle Bobbins, in her third year, had stumbled into such a creature during one of her deeper adventures into the Elsewhere in search of a new inspiration. She had spent days tangled in a web of her own dreams until The Lady had found her and, as is her habit, had helped the girl who was at this point already near past just being a between. The Lady had guided Ms Anna to a loose thread that she might use to her advantage. Annabella Bobbins, being a girl of resource, had found the thread quite pleasing in its properties and set about unravelling the dream weavers web and bundling it up for later use. The threads, she found, could be woven into a beautiful fabric the likes of which none had seen before. Later Annabella would return to the depths of elsewhere to find some more dream weavers. Carefully she would unravel the webs and weave dreams with the threads, returning any that were not to her personal liking back to the creatures. Soon the dream weavers became fat, loyal, and tame, fed on the finest dreams Annabella could weave.

When you can’t take the sleepless nights any more, and the invasive thoughts seem far too persuasive, bring a present to Ms Anna in exchange for her help. It is said that with the creatures thread she can unravel the darkest parts of your mind, and weave you new dreams.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading guys. Gimme a shout and let me know what you think.


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